FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION WITH DIRECTOR DARIUSZ GAJEWSKI

The Department of Pedagogy and the Council of the Discipline of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Social Sciences cordially invite to a special meeting with director Dariusz Gajewski - the creator of the moving film Strange Heaven (Obce niebo, 2015).

Dariusz Gajewski is a film director and screenwriter, a graduate of the Directing Department at the Lodz Film School and the Faculty of Law at the Jagiellonian University.

His debut feature film Warsaw (2003) won the Golden Lions at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, as well as numerous other awards, earning him critical acclaim and audience recognition. His artistic output includes both documentary and feature films - we encourage everyone to explore them here: Filmography

Dariusz Gajewski is also an active member of the Polish film community - he has served as President of the “Young and Film” Studio and as Vice President of the Polish Filmmakers Association. His work combines social sensitivity with profound humanism - it is cinema that asks questions about identity, empathy, freedom, and the boundaries of humanity.

Strange Heaven (2015) is a deeply moving story about a Polish family facing an unfamiliar system and their own emotional limits while living abroad. It is a tale of loss and hope, of parental love put to the test - but above all, a story about encountering the Other: another culture, an institution, and oneself.

In the context of modern migration, globalisation, and the growing tension between the individual and the system, Dariusz Gajewski’s film poses important questions that remain profoundly relevant - perhaps even more so today. It invites reflection on our contemporary world and on the relationship between humans, institutions, cultures, and one another:

• How do we understand otherness in a multicultural and increasingly diverse world of values?
• Who is the Other? Does being Other apply to every human being?
• Is genuine dialogue between cultures and values possible if we struggle to communicate within our own communities?
• What can we learn about ourselves through encounters with Others – culturally, socially, and existentially?
• Where is the line between care and control, between helping and interfering in someone else’s life?
• Can a system designed to protect also cause harm - and how can we make space for empathy, responsibility, and freedom within it?
• Under a strange heaven, among foreign languages and unfamiliar rules – can we still learn to be together?

Gajewski’s film does not offer ready-made answers but invites us to a meeting - with the Other and with ourselves - in a space where a strange heaven may become a shared horizon.

We would like to open this space for dialogue during our meeting and invite you to take part in a discussion with the Director following the film screening. This conversation will offer an opportunity for collective reflection on the experience of contemporary humanity - its disorientation, empathy, and the need for understanding.

The event is an extension of the One Film Festival project, organised as part of the Campaign for a Cheerful Childhood, supported by the Na Rzecz Foundation. We warmly invite you to collaborate and participate.

The meeting continues a series of events organised at Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, including the academic-educational conference Don’t Ask Whom I Love More, the seminar Different Faces of Depression, and a meeting with Kordian Bojanowski - director of Loss of Balance - together with lead actors Nel Kaczmarek and Mikołaj Matczak.

 
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Time: 1:00-3:30 pm
Venue: Room 54 (Aula 54)

With kind regards,
Dr hab. Monika Adamska-Staroń, Prof. UJD
Dr hab. Małgorzata Piasecka, Prof. UJD
Dr Anna Warzocha
Zbigniew Maciej Matyszczak